Shadow Thief
by SilverMinstrel
Summary: King Thranduil has a mission for a spitfire thief named Kiera, who has been caught at last. Knowing she has no choice she goes to the borders with an escort but the king and the escort have no idea that she has a few tricks up her sleeve.OFC not legomace
1. Of Gruff Smelly Guards

_Disclaimer; I don't own Tolkien (unfortunately)_

_A/N: When Kiera was born...I haven't really decided yet. First I thought, somewhere around 1636 of the Second Age when the Great Plague comes to Gondor, but then I thought...well, since we don't really know when Legolas was born (We know he was a few thousand years old at the War of the Ring) I decided to read up on that particular subject and found that it was thought he may have been born sometime after Dol Guldur was formed in 1050 S.A. So I'm thinking I'd like Kiera to be born around 2045 or so before the Watchful Peace began. _

_This is my first fanfiction story. Be gentle._

She wore a cloak of woven shadows, and a tunic of deepest dark. No one saw her…no one ever did. Not even the quickest of elven eyes could spot the gleam of her twin swords as they flashed through the darkness, killing her enemies, and protecting her friends. Well, not friends. She didn't have many of those, and those she considered friends were far away. She protected those she considered worth protecting.

Curious? Really? She doesn't like curiosity unfortunately. Most people that come across as curious she decapitates. She doesn't like people knowing much about her for various reasons, the top one being that she is a wanted thief in at least three different cities, including her current home.

Mirkwood.

For some reason unknown to her, she had a feeling that the elves were worth protecting...like they should have as few problems as possible because they deserved better. When she was little she begged her mother to tell her of elves and dragons and little hairy men of the mountains. She began to feel a longing for something new and exciting. And when she was older one day, she followed that longing to Rohan and then around Lorien to Mirkwood.

And so, she began to spy on the elves, and began to feel pity for them. So she began to hunt the evil that resided there. How did she learn the necessary skills? She watched the guards train their apprentices out in a clearing not far from the castle. She hid, and watched, and practiced for many years. And then...then she decided to employ those skills.

The fact that she found it amusing to stand on the sidelines and watch the guards make fools of themselves trying to find out who murdered the orcs about to break down the gate is hardly valid…but I'll tell you anyway.

She never liked guards. The ones in Gondor were too alert, too gruff, and they smelled bad. They were the same in Rohan. So she figured that the Mirkwood guards must be the same.

I'll address the first issue…alertness. As you can see, that would be undesirable considering who she is. A spy, a thief…you can expect a little irritation on their part, that being the case.

And they were too gruff. She always liked to get to know her victims before they died. If she were in the mood, she'd tell them a little bit about herself.

She'd employ one of her more charming phrases such as, "Really? You have a brother? I have one to. Never liked him much…he was such a bloody annoying git, not to mention he resembled a drowned orc…on good days. Can't say I blame the guy who killed him for taking a stab at something as ugly as that. After all…it was his fault he was walking down one of the more dangerous streets of Gondor in the dark."

She wasn't exactly the sort of person you'd like to invite for tea and cakes, but these were orcs she was conversing with, she didn't need to be civil.

And the last issue…they smelled.

They smelled like yesterday's leftovers rolled around in sweat and dirt. Of course, being the delightful character she is, she was always quick to point that out.

She always made a point to stay clean and fresh smelling even if she'd just been splattered with orc guts. She always smelled like sweet pea, which meant 'goodbye' or 'thank you for a lovely time'. She had always enjoyed the irony.

She had a quick wit, and biting humor, and those who got in the way of her tongue could die just as if they'd gotten in the way of her daggers.

_So, just keep going…or swimming…and roll right on to the first chapter. Oh, and don't forget to click that little purple button. _


	2. Caught?

Disclaimer; Me no own. Okay?

Kiera sighed in relief as she crept through the dimly lit Mirkwood, spotting her home. Yes, the place with all the mutant spiders, pesky, nosy, but rather pretty, wood elves, and other icky beasties. Yep, that was Mirkwood.

Kiera had been born in Gondor…her mother alone had fostered her along with a few other siblings. Her father was a mystery…someone who she had considered long dead and gone.

Having tired of that malodorous place (have you noticed that she has issues with strong smells?) bothering her sensitive nose, she had traveled aimlessly…stealing and eating when she could, often getting caught and punished until her thievery developed. Training herself to fight and defend like the guards she spied on. Yes…she had stolen the pair of twin daggers, a bow, and the very clothes on her back.

And this was all when she was how old? Actually, she didn't know how old she was. One of the many mysteries she wasn't willing to solve any time soon…it would be depressing if she stumbled upon the answer and found out that she was forty and was an aunt.

Of course, she had little doubt that she was still quite young. She also had little doubt that 'Kiera' wasn't her real name. Actually, it was more like no doubt, because she had named herself.

She could not remember anything from her childhood to save her life…that was probably all very well just in case some random baddie came up to her and decided to duel to the death with words about whose past was most interesting.

"…Uncle Gideon shot himself."

"…Well, I'm sure I would have had an interesting past…if I had one. I seem to have forgotten all about it."

"You don't remember anything?"

"Nope! Which means I win because having no past is much more interesting than hearing about the color of cousin George's earwax…"

That was an example of what many of her conversations are like with most human beings she came across. All of them wanted to know where she was going, why, and how. Of course, she never answered them, and made sure to confuse them so much that they couldn't follow her.

She had a way of drawing people into odd conversations and then decapitating them.

Of course, most of the people she met weren't people…they were either orcs or…orcs. And they didn't speak the Common Tongue very well, which made it all the more amusing.

Currently, Kiera was living in a huge oak with massive leaves and branches. She had been there for three years, living in a little tree fort that no one ever noticed because it was so well hidden among the twisted branches and dinner-plate sized leaves. It had taken her a while to build it out of logs from dead trees fallen to the ground…but she had managed.

It was one room, but it was welcoming…cheery in fact, not to mention quite warm during the winter. In the winter, not many elves were about this far out in the wood except border patrol…and since this oak was out of the way, none of them had ever found her little home.

Kiera swiftly grabbed hold of the bottommost branch and swung up on it, then clambered a few more braches upward, narrowing her eyes against the wind and listening intently for any sign that she was being followed. This became a ritual after a close call a few years ago when she forgot that elves had very keen eyes. She was walking home and almost ran straight into a change of patrol. She had hidden of course, but not before some elves saw her and tried to follow. Thankfully, she had a headstart and was climbing the trees while they were on the ground.

Satisfied that she was alone, Kiera scampered up the rest of the branches and swung through a hold in the floor of her fort, sighing once again in relief to be home.

She felt less tense when she was in her tree fort, for she never really relaxed, being a thief and all.

She quickly unstrapped her quiver from her back, and dumped the arrows and bow on her bed in the corner. She then opened a little chest at the foot of her palet and took out a piece of stale bread and a few strips of dry meat.

She had obviously stolen the bread, and the meat she had prepared herself from the scrawny deer she had shot a while back. She had entertained the idea of marching to the Mirkwood castle and demanding that they feed the deer and poultry better, but dismissed the idea as nonsense…which most of her ramblings are.

You're wondering where in Arda she had managed to steal it _from. _That's the important part.

The bow and arrows she had stolen when the wood elves were out feasting and frolicking. (She found that she actually knew very little of the elves, and didn't like them that much after she found out more, due to the number one issue she had with guards.)

Anyway, some careless elf had left them lying about along with the daggers. His loss.

Before Kiera had obtained the black tunic, leggings, boots, and cloak…she had been wearing a dress like any other maiden. She had let the elves spy her so they took them to Mirkwood palace with them. Since she had been playing lost and alone little girl, she had been able to filch those from the wardrobe.

Most of them suspected her; none of them were ever able to confirm it.

Until now.

You see, she had been walking closer than was safe to Mirkwood residence in search of fowl that was actually well fed.

From there, a guard on duty had spied her, crying out, "Stop!" in elvish. She only knew a bit of the elves tongue from what she could glean from conversations she overheard.

Then she had run faster than she'd ever run before. She sprinted through the trees and brush, knowing that her trail would never be found due to the ease of long practice.

Her heart had almost beaten its way out of her chest by the time she had gotten home.

Kiera washed her hands and face in the basin of water she always kept handy. While she was eating, she stood by a crude window, feeling the breeze run through her now unbraided hair.

Kiera had never paid attention to how she looked. She honestly didn't care because she had so much else to worry about. She had bluish-grey eyes and brown hair with a hint of copper that fell down to her waist in what was now a long tangled mass.

Finishing the last of her bread, Kiera dusted her hands off and trotted over to her bed where she sat, reading one of the many poem books she enjoyed.

Want to know where those came from? These were actually books she had brought from her home in Gondor. She always loved reading and trying to untangle the deep meanings of poems and songs.

She had just settled down to one of her favorites, a thin leather bound book…plain looking. But inside was something of more worth to her than the treasure that she stole.

It was the only thing she had left of her father. It was a book of poems that he had written. When she was little, she used to trace her fathers neat even handwriting with her chubby hands.

Kiera fought back emotions that threatened to rise and overcome her.

The wind picked up speed, and Kiera froze, hearing something…someone…down below.


	3. Starve A Thief Day

_Wow. It's been a while. A really long while. Like a month and a few weeks. Don't shoot me please. I'm very very sorry!_

Kiera's muscles tightened instinctively, and she slowed her breathing to short, calm puffs through her mouth. They were so quiet even an elf wouldn't be able to hear.

She slowly rose from her pallet and placed the leather bound poem book on top of it. She crouched down and quietly made her way over to the window. Kiera peeked over the sill just enough so she could see through the branches to the ground below.

A gigantic, slavering, hairy black spider was at the base of her tree, causing her to think that perhaps building a tree fort in a secluded area wasn't as smart as she once thought it to be.

What's more, the spider seemed to have dumped something on the ground, and was now using its various powers of silk spinning to tie it up in a cocoon. Whatever 'it' was.

Kiera caught a glimpse of gold hair before it was covered in silk. Hair that color with that shine simply screamed, _Alert! Alert! Wood Elf!_ She was definitely ruing the fact that she had chosen this secluded tree, because now she supposed she was supposed to play the hero.

"I could just leave him there…" Kiera murmured to herself. She quickly batted away that notion, knowing that she'd have to listen to the agonized screams and the nauseating slurping after the spider liquefied the elf's insides.

Kiera shuddered. She wasn't that heartless. She could stand a gurgle or two, given that was the sound most victims made when being decapitated, but slurping was a definite no.

Sighing, Kiera hoped to Eru that the elf was unconscious, otherwise she _and _the spider was in danger.

…well, maybe not the spider. But she was in danger of being found after all these years of hiding, hunting, and stealing. She was beginning to rue the fact that she was a thief.

Kiera got the strong, strange, feeling that she was going to rue many things after this incident.

"Why would I do that?" She asked herself quietly as she crept over to her bow and arrows where they leaned against the wall.

Swiftly, she strung her bow and grabbed a handful of arrows from her quiver. She fluidly notched an arrow, stood up, sighted through the window, drew back the bowstring, and let her arrow fly. The others followed soon after.

Kiera waited tensely for a few seconds, then relaxed slightly when she heard a 'thud' as the spider fell to the ground and the scent of blood pervaded the air.

In a matter of seconds, the daggers were strapped onto her belt, and the quiver on her back, the bow in her hand, strung and ready.

A grisly sight greeted her after she climbed down the tree. But she did not more than wrinkle her nose…she had seen worse.

The spider lay on the ground, all of its eyes still open, but a thin veil clouding their sight. Four arrows protruded from its abdomen and two more from its thorax. From the wounds trickled thick black blood. Pus gushed forth, foaming on the ground.

Kiera tore her eyes from the disgusting sight and hurried over to the cocoon on the ground. She unsheathed one of her daggers and gently slid it against the silky ropes.

Any normal blade would have been stuck and wouldn't have been able to cut the sticky strands anyway, but the dagger was elven made…and very sharp.

"The big black spider made a web in a tree. It was big and round you would agree. She might catch a bug, she might catch a bee, but the big black spider can not catch me!"

Kiera sang in a singsong voice as the last of the strands fell away.

Her eyebrows rocketed up to her hairline as she saw the spider's victim. Golden hair, fair skin, pointed ears, closed eyes but-who-cared-what-color-they-were, and that wasn't the problem.

Well, normally wood elves were a problem for her, but she was in luck because this one was knocked out by the spider's poison or something.

This particular wood elf had the lookout's emblem on his green and brown attire. On the shoulder of his green tunic were two embroidered red oak leaves that crossed each other, and an arrow in the middle of them.

Kiera frowned. He couldn't be a guard…he didn't meet the smelly criteria, though he was probably alert. Probably not gruff, considering he was an elf.

The apprentice of a guard then. Apprentices were usually smart enough to know that being smelly made them targets for things worse than orcs. Wargs…or just plain wolves. If you smell like dung and blood, its natural for all carnivorous creatures to want to chase and eat you.

But at present, Kiera thought it might be a nice change if she did something nice. It wasn't like she had anything else to do. Maybe she could bring him to the Mirkwood village where the villagers would bring him to the castle. She couldn't risk going to the castle herself, given that the guard had spotted her.

Kiera jumped a bit as the blonde shifted, groaning, then forfeited to oblivion once more.

"Better get him to the village before he wakes." Kiera muttered. She stood up and then realized there was another problem.

He was to heavy for her to carry.

"I guess I'll have to drag him then. Lovely." She said resignedly. "This will not be fun at all."

Xxxxxxxxxx

Kiera knew what a sight it was, having a long wanted thief drag a guard's apprentice into their village and drop him in the middle of the town square, shouting for everyone to hear that she 'killed the spider that was going to suck his guts out and brought him here so they could tell the king and take him to the castle.'

"Why can't you do it?" Asked one of the younger elf maidens.

Kiera looked at her oddly, "Because I'm a thief. I'm wanted. Apparently I'm dangerous to."

"But you are. We've seen the result of your work at our very doorstep. We've heard of it from Rohan and Gondor to. You are dangerous."

Kiera flashed the ellon who said that a feral grin, "Only to those who get in my way."

Needless to say, the elves in Mirkwood Village backed off, and let her sprint back into the pines and oaks, leaving the unconscious elf for them to take to the castle.

That would seem odd, very odd, considering any elf there would have wanted the glory of catching her for themselves, but know that Kiera had a notorious reputation, therefore they were reluctant to go near her. And there was that little fact that Kiera had her weapons ready, while the villagers had them hanging on the walls in their houses.

So now Kiera was strolling through the dimly lit forest, looking for a suitable animal to eat for dinner. It was now nighttime and the shadows were prowling the wood.

"I don't understand why all of a sudden everything edible is disappearing! It's not 'Starve a Thief' day as far as I know!"

Already tense from hunger and fear of being found by more guards and whatnot, (After all, she had revealed herself twice in one day) Kiera jumped a mile high when she heard the grunts and hoarse shouts of a creature she hated more than anything else.

Orcs.

They were in Mirkwood too. Since when did that happen?! Mirkwood had been purged of all evil after Thranduil had taken the throne!

"This place is going to the dogs!"

"Better than having it go to the thieves." Said a melodious voice from behind her. Kiera stood stock still, but didn't turn around. "Is it the Kill A Thief tambola then? First you try to starve me, then the spiders knock at my door, THEN the orcs over there try and-"

A hand suddenly appeared and placed itself over her mouth. A voice hissed in her ear, "We are here to rid of the orcs. It was just a lucky chance we found _you_."

Furious at herself, Kiera kicked backward, making a connection. There was a groan as the hand was loosened.

Kiera didn't waste time trying to see what exactly the elves looked like, wanted, or were doing…she just ran.

…Unfortunately she was running right in the direction of the orcs. With a curse, Kiera veered to the right, hoping to avoid the orc attack.

"See if I decapitate any of those nasty goblins for you anymore!" Kiera hissed furiously at the elves that weren't there anymore.

A hoarse chuckle from behind her made her whirl around. One orc had broken loose from the group and had been tailing her.

Kiera smoothly drew and arrow and let it fly, piercing the unprotected neck. With a gurgle, the orc fell down, its black blood staining the forest floor.

Kiera's eyes widened in disbelief as two more orcs stepped out from behind the large trees.

"Our Master wants your service." One growled, spittle flying everywhere. Kiera's heart pounded but she gasped, "What?!"

"You have talent." The orc continued, stepping closer. It's partner growled in agreement, "You will have power beyond imagining…you're heart's desires will be fulfilled."

"If only you agree." Finished the first orc.

Kiera laughed, "I don't think so."

Two more arrows whistled through the air, felling the partners.

A knot of orcs and wargs appeared from behind the trees. Kiera had no doubt that there were more still hiding.

"You will be hunted until you agree, Shadow Queen." Hissed a stout goblin.

"They say you are swift, and deadly. We have experienced your power…our families and friends slain and piled to burn. Such is the result of your talent." Said another.

Kiera backed away. _What in Arda are you thinking girl?! These are orcs you're talking about! RUN DAMN IT!_

"But we are willing to forgive our loss if you join us. Think of the power, the jewels, you will be-"

"Brainwashed?" Kiera jumped in, keeping her tone light and cheerful, "Yeah, I know. Bye bye!"

With that, she kept running, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the elves killed all of the orcs.

Or until the orcs killed her.

It was pitch black, she couldn't see an inch in front of herself. But Kiera kept running, arms stretched out in front of herself like a zombie.

But then, something odd happened.

Hands clasped her outstretched ones, and yanked her to the side with an abnormal strength. "Stay quiet." Whispered a soft voice as Kiera struggled against the hands that held her captive.

Submissively, Kiera fell silent and ceased to move. She heard the trampling as the wargs and orcs marched through the forest. She heard their screams as lethal elven arrows killed them time and time again.

She didn't know how long it had been, and she didn't care, but when the noise had died down, Kiera started to struggle again.

"Be still!" Ordered a new voice, one much like the guard she had hit earlier on. Kiera resisted even more violently as she felt her weapons being taken away.

"Don't you _dare_!" Kiera shouted, kicking blindly, thrashing, and doing anything to get away.

"Be calm Kiera." Said the gentle voice of the elf holding her. Surprise alone made Kiera stay still, "How do you know my name?" She demanded.

There was silence as the elves whispered in their musical tongue, sounding like the breeze rustling the branches.

"We heard rumors of a wild maiden escaped from Gondor, roaming till she came here." The soft voice said.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute here! I did not "escape". I had nothing to escape from except the disgustingly strong smell! You make it sound like I was a bad girl and ran away!"

"We do not judge." Said the guard Kiera had hit.

Kiera snorted, "Yeah. I'll believe it when I see it Mr. Better-than-having-it-go-to-the-thieves. Some thieves aren't all that bad you know."

"That's funny." The guard said coolly.

"Actually, not its not, but I'm going to ask anyway…why is it funny?" Kiera said in a sadistic tone.

"Because all of the thieves I've met haven't exactly been 'not all that bad'."

"And how many thieves have you met in your lifetime?"

"Enough to know that you aren't a proper thief."

"Is that a challenge?!" Kiera asked, a wicked grin on her face.

"No. Simply a statement. The yrch call you the Shadow Queen for a reason. You have deadly skills. Thieving is not one of them though."

"If not thieving then what?" Asked the whispering voice of the elf holding her.

"Rogue. She's a rogue. A very slippery, secretive, dangerous, hard to catch rogue."

Kiera cleared her throat impatiently, "Can I comment on something here? Slippery, secretive, dangerous, and hard to catch are the adjectives that describe a thief."

"Your Majesty, with all due respect…they say she can rob the night of its darkness. In Rohan and Gondor they say she was a notorious thief."

Kiera grinned wider, "Notorious…I like that. Wait…_your majesty_?!"

"They are men, Durion. They do not see what we do."

Kiera asked in no nonsense tone, "I've just noticed what time it is. Time for Durion to be nice and let me go."

"What if Durion doesn't want to let you go?" Asked Durion is his whispery voice.

"Then I'd ask him why."

"What if he said that His Majesty, Legolas Thranduilion and the King himself have a proposal to make."

"I don't like proposals. Besides, I'm sort of tired from all the excitement of freeing one of your guards apprentices from the massive spider that stopped underneath my doorstep for an afternoon snack, trying to find some meat that's fit to eat…wait, check that…finding _anything _that's edible, and then the orc attack. I'm not myself ya see?"

"…you didn't say 'what if'."

"Durion, she's not your pet. Stop playing games and cut to the chase."

"Fine. Kiera, we need you to come with us."

"Just how many is 'us'?" Kiera questioned. The reply was, "Five."

"Damn!" Kiera whispered. To many to run away from without being turned into a living pincushion with the pansy wood elves nasty pointy arrows. To many to knock out or anything like that so she steal her bow and arrows back from without being harmed herself.

"And where are we going?" She asked.

"Mirkwood Palace."

"WHAT? YOU SLIMEY SNAKES! I WILL NOT GO INTO A PALACE! ARE YOU MAD?! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET THIS! YOU'LL…

"Durion…please, a gag would be helpful."

"…NEVER IN YOU LIFE WILL YOU EVER BE-!"

"…much better."


	4. The Mission

_Disclaimer; It really isn't mine, I promise. I'm just evilly subjecting Tolkien's characters to sadistic humor._

"Why do you have such an issue with the palace?" Durion asked as he removed the gag after Kiera calmed down. They were nearing the Mirkwood Village.

Kiera scowled at him, "Because its full of alert, and maybe smelly, elves, which are just as bad as guards."

"Elves don't smell." Answered the royal son of Thanduil. She still couldn't bring herself to call him Legolas.

Kiera snorted, "Well, you're a bit biased aren't you? Maybe other people think you smell."

"We take frequent baths…_unlike your race_." The last three words were muttered, but she heard them anyway.

Kiera's eyes flashed. "The son of Thranduil? Racist? I'll have you know that just because 'my race' the Second Born does not give your race the right to think they can lord it over us. While we may not have your strength, grace, beauty, among other improved traits, and besides the fact that we manage to find disagreements everywhere, which result in your equivalent of Kinslaying, we're doing quite well on our own without elven qualities. No race is superior because each has its own faults."

"Lovely speech." Durion commented, "I'd applaud you if my hands weren't busy making sure you didn't run away."

Kiera rolled her eyes. "Like that's possible with five freakishly enhanced beings guarding me."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Said a new voice.

"Good idea." Kiera snapped.

"You know our history, then." The son of Thranduil said quietly, distracting Kiera from trying to burn the elf alive with her glare.

Kiera shrugged, "Everyone knows about the Kinslaying and the curse of Mandos because it was so vile. You see, if men fight, its natural because that's the way we are portrayed, as warmongering people. But elves…you're held to higher standards…people expect you to be the peacemakers not the ones with the out of control temper."

"My mother was Noldor." Durion said in his whispery voice.

Kiera raised an eyebrow, "What about your father?"

"He was human…your kind."

Kiera now raised both eyebrows, "Really? Half elven? You?" She snorted and aimed her next comment at the prince, "So all along you've been insulting your own? I don't think that's very wise as a future ruler."

The prince snapped, "What I do is my own business, and I don't care much about your version of wisdom, seeing as you are a thief."

"Aha! So you admit I'm not a rogue."

"A slip of tongue. Besides, Durion has more than earned my trust as an advisor and warrior."

Durion replied dryly, "I'm flattered. I don't think I've blushed this much since your mother told me that she liked my new cloak."

Kiera snickered, she liked Durion.

She felt someone fooling with her tied hands and turned her head around. A strange, willowy elf with a sharp knife was currently untying her hands.

"Wait what?" Kiera asked in confusion.

The elf halted and looked at her with upraised eyebrows.

"Oh no, by all means, don't let me stop you…but why exactly _are _you untying me? Aren't I your prisoner?"

"Yes." Durion said in a no-nonsense tone.

"No." the thieves' royal bane said at the same time.

Durion sighed, "Technically you are, due to the many times you stole from the king's property, but under these circumstances we'd very much like to have you on our side."

"What circumstances?" Kiera asked suspiciously.

"You'll find out." Said the royal. "And don't try anything just because you're untied."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Kiera drawled as they marched through the village toward the palace.

Durion watched her through the corner of his eyes as he, the prince, and the prince's guard were waiting to be admitted to Thranduil's study. She was sitting in a chair, her right leg drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around it, chin resting on her knee.

In the light of the palace, he saw her features were sharp. She had dirty tangled brown hair with a tint of copper that she had bound in a braid. Her wary eyes were a blue-grey.

She wore leggings and a tunic like a man, but she had told him that she didn't mind wearing dresses at all. It made sense, Durion concluded, that she should wear what she did if she was going to get around without much of a hassle.

She had a runner's body, lean and fit. But she wasn't tense, as he had expected her to be; she looked relaxed, bored, and supremely unconcerned.

She also smelled like sweet pea.

As wrong as it was, he was a bit intrigued by this female. After all, they were on different sides of the law.

"The king is ready for you," Said a female attendant as she came out of the King's study.

He, Legolas, and the thief, Kiera, rose and walked toward the open door. Legolas, with his brisk, hurried walk, and Kiera with her graceful lope.

"I do hope this is all worth the trouble." He heard Kiera murmur to the young prince.

"Even if it isn't for you, it will be for us."

Durion saw her eyes flash with anger as she realized what the statement meant. She knew that even after this assignment, if she agreed to do it and lived to tell the tale, she would be a prisoner still.

Kiera didn't expect the King's study to be welcoming. She didn't expect it to be richly furnished with mahogany and expensive rugs. She didn't expect a broken bow to be hanging on the wall, alongside a poorly made tapestry of a horse cantering on a field. It looked as if a child had made it.

But they were

She certainly didn't expect King Thranduil to be holding a wine glass in one hand and a book in the other, reading.

But he was.

"Ah. So here you are at last." The king said when the three walked in.

_At last? You were the one to keep us waiting. _Kiera thought with a momentary flash of annoyance. Kings.

Thranduil set down his wine and his book, and folded his hands. He looked at Kiera and said, "So you're our elusive thief. Kiera, isn't it?"

Wisely, Kiera kept quiet.

Thranduil cleared his throat and went on, "It's lucky chance we found you, actually. You see, we have a job for you."

'We', as in all of the elves? Or the royal 'we'? She wasn't doing anything personal for the king. That was a definite no-no.

Kiera raised an eyebrow, "That being…?"

"We need you to put your excellent thieving skills to work and do a bit of spy work for us. There's been a disturbance at our eastern borders. None of the guards have sent a word for a while now, and any messengers we've sent have not returned. Obviously there's something wrong there, and we need you to find out what."

"Why don't you just send one of your own?"

Thranduil said in a straining-to-be-patient sort of voice, "We did. They have not returned either."

Kiera nodded, understanding how hard it must be for a king of the immortal elves to admit that a human could do a job better than his own. Still, she couldn't help smirking a bit.

She eyed the king suspiciously and asked, "What if I don't want to do it?"

Thranduil's face clouded and his eyes narrowed. "Then we'll throw you into the dungeons for all the crimes you have committed against my people in my territory."

"And that wouldn't happen if I did do the job?"

Thranduil waved a hand, "Of course it would. You do understand that after this assignment is over, if you live, you will still stand a trial for your actions."

Kiera sighed, "That's not much incentive for getting the job done."

"Think of it as repaying us for the clothes on your back and the weapons in your…well, the weapons that used to be in your hand."

"That'll be a comforting thought when I'm rotting in your dungeon!" Kiera shot back.

Thranduil rose, towering above them in his anger. "Hold your tongue!"

Kiera strode forward and braced herself on Thranduil's desk.

"Listen, Thranduil." She hissed, "There's two ways we can do this. Your way, or mine. I suggest we do it my way."

The king looked down at her and laughed, "Or what? There's no two ways about it, Kiera. There's only one way we can do this…_my _way."

Kiera attempted to stare the king down, and lost. He was right after all. She was trapped. There was no way she could escape the dungeons after she finished the assignment. But if she ran away _during _it…

"Of course, because we fear for your health so, I will be sending an escort with you."

Kiera sighed mentally. If he seriously thought that one puny elf would keep her from running away, he had some issues.

She looked down and smirked. Of course, she wasn't about to enlighten him of that fact.

"I've decided Durion will be your escort, by the way."

Kiera's head snapped up and around to stare at the said elf.

It would be so much harder (mentally) to escape from him. He was all right for an elf, and she knew that he would probably be punished when she escaped from his supervision.

Kiera turned back to the King and said, "Well, Thranduil, thanks for the lovely chat, but I've got me some orcs to watch."

Thranduil smiled without any humor, "Of course Kiera. And by the way…"

Kiera raised an eyebrow.

"Most people call me _King _Thranduil…you should follow the suit."

_Is that a threat or a suggestion_?

Kiera spitefully threw her last barb at the king, wanting desperately to get even with him for trapping her in this situation.

"Get used to disappointment where I'm concerned _Thranduil, _because I'm not like most people."

One look at the King's face and Durion grabbed Kiera by the arm and whispered in her ear, "I think you've overstayed your welcome."

Kiera rolled her eyes but let Durion lead her out of the study with Legolas tailing behind.

"As if I didn't know."


End file.
